Ani DiFranco

Fishman Artist // Ani DiFranco

Ani Difranco started playing guitar around the age of nine, and by the time she was in her pre-teen years, she was playing Beatles covers in bars and coffee shops around town. At 15 years old, emancipated and living on her own, the poems she had been writing for years had begun to evolve into song lyrics.

At the age of 19, DiFranco moved to New York City to live and play among all the other folksingers in the Village. During this time, she was also taking classes at the New School, but her weekends were spent touring and playing out in the Folk clubs, bars, festivals, and coffeehouses around the northeastern US.

Her first recording in 1990 sold out rapidly, and she quickly made a second record the following year. She released each on her own Righteous Babe label, which at first was more of a concept than anything. As her career gained more momentum, Ani was courted by A&R reps from major and minor labels, but she continued to turn them down.

Now, after two decades of playing over a hundred shows a year, Difranco is packing clubs from the Hard Rock in Vegas to Carnegie Hall in New York. Her Righteous Babe label employs more than a dozen people in her hometown of Buffalo, and supports the recordings of cutting edge artists from Drums & Tuba to Andrew Bird and Toshi Reagan. And her rhythmic, staccato guitar technique has innovated the way the instrument is played.